CARMEL – One week after the Putnam Legislature rejected selling a prime piece of Putnam real estate to an individual for $600,000, members of the legislature’s Physical Services Committee unanimously rescinded a pair of resolutions dating back to 2019 authorizing the sale.
Committee members William Gouldman, Amy Sayegh and Tommy Regan felt it was in the best interest of the county to retain ownership of the building that formerly housed Putnam Motors for decades.
Thirty-four Gleneida Avenue is located directly in front of the massive Putnam County Courthouse. When the county assumed ownership, it rented portions of the facility to the non-for-profit United for the Troops in addition to the Service Corps for Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Putnam Economic Development Corp.
In 2019, the legislature authorized the county executive to offer the property for sale through the Multiple Listing Service using the services of a licensed real estate broker.
When discussing the sale, Legislator Jake D’Angelo called the property “very sacred” in the current economy because it sits on Carmel’s main thoroughfare across from Lake Gleneida.
D’Angelo noted: “I’d like to see us keep this — not leaving it be but potentially doing something that could give back to the community.”
Legislature Chair Dan Birmingham suggested demolishing the building and turning the property into a public park.
Gouldman, who chairs the committee, invited Department of Public Works officials and representatives of the executive branch to next month’s meeting to discuss the building’s next steps.
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